Winchester and District Athletics Club Throws Squad recently held a Throws development meeting to provide additional competition opportunities in the Discus and Hammer events.

The event was a huge success with a number of PBs and an opportunity for some younger throwers to try out the events for the first time. In addition, the squad were delighted to welcome three-time Olympian and British record holder in the Discus Lawrence Okoye to the event.

Lawrence has been having a fantastic season this year – following his appearance at the Paris Olympics in the summer Lawrence recently threw 67m at a European competition in Zagreb (the third longest throw by a British male in history) and following this, he wanted to see if he could get close to breaking his British record of 68m in Winchester. Lawrence finished the WADAC event with a best throw on the day of 62m – one of the longest throws ever seen in Winchester and a fantastic experience for all the WADAC throwers to see him perform up close.

Throwing in Winchester is going from strength to strength and the club boasts 5 throws athletes who have gained international honours in recent years.

Based on the 2023 season the WADAC Throws squad was ranked third in the UK based on overall numbers of athletes appearing in the UK Top 20 rankings.

Throws Head coach Martin McBriar said ‘We’re really excited to be building a strong in-depth throws community here at Winchester. Having Lawrence come and compete was a fantastic experience for all our athletes and coaches – he was happy to pose for some photos with the athletes after the competition and generously gave some advice to the younger throwers also which I know they all appreciated. With lead coaches Heather Sheffield and Jeremy Clifton, we have a strong team but are always on the lookout for more talent to join the squad – both athletes and coaches. If you are interested then please do reach out via the WADAC website at wadac.org.uk’.